we don't need a sign to know better times
by grizzlybairparty
Summary: Wally couldn't remember much from the mission. He could remember the bitter cold of the late January night, his friends shouting, a burst of pain in his chest, Klarion the Witch Brat shooting something at him...but nothing else. A hazy, white blank filled in the gaps. / Birdflash, semi-AU. One-shot, but I'm open to making a sequel.


this is based off a prompt generator and a conversation with cody...it got really out of hand. it's set during season one, later in the season once wally and dick have both turned sixteen and fourteen, respectively. i listened to many songs whilst writing this, if you go to 8tracks and find the account grizzlybairparty and click on the mix with the same name as this fic, you will find that mix. blessed. title is from "better times" by beach house. anyway, enjoy :)

* * *

 _-ook out KF!_

 _Aqualad I need you over he-_

 _He's not responding!_

 _-ead?_

 _He's not dead, his heartbeat sounds steady-_

 _Klarion's still attacking, you know!_

 _-ust because you hate him doesn't mean we do!_

 _Robin, you know that's not tr-_

 _Someone radio Batman ASAP!_

 _-ease, KF, stay with me. I can't lose you too, pl-_

* * *

 _January 26th_

Wally couldn't remember much from the mission. He could remember the bitter cold of the late January night, his friends shouting, a burst of pain in his chest, Klarion the Witch _Brat_ shooting something at him...but nothing else. A hazy, white blank filled in the gaps.

He woke up in the med-bay at Mount Justice, a breathing tube in his mouth and an IV in his arm. He squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again, taking in his surroundings. The stiff, cold gurney, the fluorescent lights, the chair at his bedside. Dick was currently sitting there, asleep and still in his uniform.

"Rob," Wally tried to cough around his tube. "Robin," he tried again, coughing even harder. That woke Dick up, starting upwards from his chair.

"You're awake!" he said, surprised. He leaned forward and removed Wally's breathing tube before continuing to speak. "We didn't think you'd be awake for...awhile. Here, you're probably hungry." He took out a granola bar from a pocket in his belt and handed it to Wally, who accepted it gratefully.

Wally's eyes narrowed. "And what does 'for awhile' mean?" he said around a mouthful of granola.

Dick sighed and sat back down in the chair next to the bed, running his hands through his hair and roughing it up. "Well, Klarion hit you with something in the middle of that mission from about two days ago-"

"Two days?!" Wally shrieked. "I've been out for two days?!"

"If you let me _finish_ , I could explain _why_ ," Dick said, giving Wally a look. Wally put his hands up in surrender. "Anyway, the mission two days ago, where we were trying to stop Klarion from stealing a Lord of Order artifact? Yeah, he hit you with a spell or something. We haven't figured out what it's done to you yet, but you were passed out cold for that past two days, so we took you here."

"And Batman's satisfied with that answer?" Wally said dubiously.

Dick grinned. "Of course not." He abruptly sobered. "But you've woken up from the...coma now. So Batman said you can go home."

"Really?"

"Yeah, surprisingly. Just..." Dick took a deep breath. "Please don't throw yourself into unnecessary danger until we figure this out, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Are the rest of the team okay?"

"Artemis bruised her ribs, and we're all pretty shaken up from you passing out, but for the most part we're fine." But the faintest quaver in Dick's voice gave his true feelings away.

Wally raised an eyebrow. "Anything else you wanna tell me?"

Dick bit his lip before leaning forward and pulling Wally into a tight hug. "You really worried me," he whispered. "I know it was a coma, but you looked like you were. You know. _Dead_."

"Well, I'm not dead. You can't get rid of me that easily."

Dick laughed weakly into Wally's chest before sitting up and readjusting his uniform. "Yeah, yeah. Well, c'mon, let's get you changed and to the zeta tube. I have things to do."

"Oh you have things to do, hm?" Wally teased. "And here I thought I meant something to you, Rob."

"Oh, shut it, Freshness."

Wally laughed, getting up and changing into some civvies laid out at the foot of the bed before following Dick out and into the main part of the cave. But he couldn' t shake the uneasy feeling off his shoulders.

* * *

 _February 1st_

"Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't wanna alarm you, but your eyes are glowing."

"Aw, babe, I didn't know you felt that way about me," Wally said grinning and looking up at Artemis from his comfortable position on the couch. "And how long have you had these feelings for me?"

Artemis flushed angrily. "Shut it, Baywatch," she said, swatting his shoulder. He pouted, rubbing his shoulder and sticking his tongue out at her.

"She's right, KF, they look a little...neon," Dick added in from his position snug under Wally's arm, the corners of his mouth twitching up at the events before him. "Maybe something else from Klarion's spell?"

Wally shrugged. "Maybe. I'm not really worried about it. I mean, he's a Lord of Chaos. Maybe there's just random symptoms to make everyone think there's something wrong with me, when it's just random crazy happenstances," he shared, smirking.

Artemis and Dick shared a look. "That was really intelligent," Artemis said, surprised.

"You know, I'm not as stupid as I look. Or act. Really. Have you even seen my grades in chemistry, honestly-" He was cut off by Batman coming in.

"You have a new symptom?" He said, without preamble.

"Yeah, apparently my eyes are _glowing_ ," Wally said mockingly. He fidgeted when he realized Batman was studying his eyes from underneath the cowl.

"Go to the med-bay for more testing. That's an order." Wally groaned as Batman swept away and Dick got up and waited by the door, expectant.

Wally fell in next to him comfortably, knocking their shoulders and elbows together (and maybe their hands, but no one had to know about that) . "Don't worry about it too much, alright?" he told Dick. Dick huffed, but said nothing.

They ran almost every test again. Nothing comes up. And Wally was fine with it. He really was.

But when he caught sight of his eyes reflecting off his mirror, the doubt crept up the back of his neck that he might not be fine at all.

* * *

 _February 20th_

And yet, despite all his worries, Wally found he could still breathe enough to indulge Dick.

He rubbed his hands over his face and groaned. "What, exactly, am I doing Rob?" They were in the middle of the training floor, with the cave thankfully empty.

"You're going to practice slow-dancing with me."

"And _why_ am I doing that?"

"Because for all the formal dances and charity balls I've been to, I haven't learned how to actually slow dance with someone. And I need to know how, you know that Gotham Academy's spring dance is coming up."

Wally didn't know why, but he _really_ didn't want Dick dancing with anyone besides him. He decided those feelings could definitely be put off to think about later, and sighed.

"Ok, so, what kind of slow-dancing are we doing here?"

Dick shrugged. "Normal?"

"You're an idiot."

"I told you, I don't have much dance experience."

"Come here then. I gotta lead."

"Realistically, I would be leading."

"Well, you're learning. Maybe next time, birdie."

Dick stuck his tongue out at him. "Hmph. Fine." Wally brought Dick slowly into his arms, as though he were fragile. "Oh, wait, I have music." He dug a remote out of his pocket and turned on the stereo that had somehow appeared against the wall.

"This is a good song." Dick hummed in agreement, and allowed himself to be drawn back into Wally's embrace.

"So, is there waltzing, or anything specifically fancy...? I have minor basics down, not the amazing classical training I assumed you had."

"Just...I don't know, swaying."

"You need me to teach you how to sway in place with your arms around someone else," Wally said, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds stupid."

"Whatever, Boy Wonderful, let's just get this over with."

Wally tentatively put his arms around Dick's waist, and prodded Dick to put his arms around Wally's neck. Dick was ever so slightly shorter than Wally, so he had to stand up on his tiptoes the tiniest bit. Wally swayed them in place, Dick following suit.

"You know, I've always imagined slow dancing to this song," Wally remarked.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Wally could see Dick blush high on his cheekbones, almost invisible underneath the sunglasses. "I'm glad we get to slow dance to it together, then."

Wally softly smiled down at Dick, pulling him closer. "You know, despite everything that's been happening lately, the crazy spell, me in a coma, glowing eyes, et cetera," his voice got quieter, "this is really, really nice."

"Good," Dick whispered back, his lips turned up at the corners.

The music swelled, Wally leaned in slowly to Dick's face, his eyes flickering down to his mouth before back up to those covered eyes. Dick leaned up and nearly bridged the gap between their mouths (do not mess this up West, you can do this, you can _do_ this-)

Then Batman and Black Canary burst in, followed by the rest of the team. Wally skidded away so fast, he was sure no one had seen him almost...hug Dick.

Batman coughed loudly. "We have a mission for you."

"Looked like Wally and Robin were on a mission too," Artemis snarked under her breath, earning a giggle from M'gaan. Wally groaned as they left the room.

Dick wouldn't meet his eyes.

* * *

 _February 27st_

The next time Wally got a symptom that week later, he didn't tell anyone. He couldn't. What would they say? They'd lock him up. They'd run more tests on him.

He had honest-to-god claws. Short, triangular, sharp claws, poking out of the end of his real nails every time he flexes his hands. Oh god. They couldn't even be hidden by his Kid Flash gloves, they just poked out through the tips.

It was just before a new mission, probably to distract them all from the horrible tension building in the cave. They'd been all called to the center of the cave, debriefed, and sent to change before boarding the bioship.

Except now, he couldn't even go. No one could know about this. They'd quarantine him. They'd call him a monster. His friends wouldn't talk to him. Dick already wasn't talking to him, hadn't for the past week, he couldn't lose the rest over getting a pair of claws. ( _Claws_.)

No. Okay. He could _do this_. He was Wallace Rudolph West, and he could completely hide his problems from his friends. Totally. He ran through all his clothes before finding an extra large pair of thick gloves he knew he had stashed from the last time the team had a mandatory snow fight in the woods behind the cave. He slipped them on over his regular gloves. They were conspicuous, but not so conspicuous the team would feel the need to endlessly rib him about them. Perfect.

* * *

The mission was a disaster, and it was all Wally's fault. He'd been reckless, not paying attention, and he knew it. He didn't have to hear Batman's obligatory "you did horrible" speech after they came back to the cave. He already knew what he would say.

"And Kid Flash..." Wally looked up, but kept his eyes carefully trained on anything but Batman. "Any explanation for today's mistakes?"

"No, sir."

"No new symptoms?"

Wally bit down on his tongue. "No, sir."

"Do _not_ let it happen again."

"Of course not."

Batman nodded and swept out of the room. "Pack up and go home."

As they left the room, Wally could see Conner side-eyeing him, having heard his heartbeat and catching him in his lie. He ran quickly back to his room before Conner could catch up to him, packing up quickly so no one could stop him before he left. He had to leave, he had to get out of there, no one could know-

There was a knock at his door. _Crap_.

"Yeah, just a sec," he said, sighing. He super-sped through the rest of his packing before opening the door. "Listen, Conner, I don't know what you heard-"

But it wasn't Conner; it was Dick.

"I don't know what you needed to talk to Conner about, but _I_ need to talk to you," Dick said, not entirely meeting Wally's eyes.

Wally paused for a moment before speaking. "Yeah, yeah, come in." He sat down on the floor next to his bed, moving his bag so Dick could sit next to him, knocking their knees together.

Dick was just so easy to be around, so easy to talk to and tell anything. But for some reason, he just couldn't spit anything out. So he settled for the bland "So what did you need to talk about?"

"About, um. About that...about last week."

"You mean when we almost kissed? And then the following week where you didn't talk to me?" Wally muttered.

Dick winced. "Yeah. That." He surprised Wally by taking off his sunglasses then, and rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes, exhaling deeply. Wally felt a sudden wave of guilt crash over him. He hadn't exactly _tried_ to get Dick to talk to him either.

Wally looked at Dick out of the corner of his eye before cautiously, softly placing his hand on Dick's knee, squeezing gently. "What about it, Dick?"

"If-if we had kissed."

"Yes?"

"You wanted kiss me. Right?" Dick said, some of his usual easy confidence leaking back into his voice.

"I wanted to kiss you." Wally paused, biting his lip, before continuing, "I still want to kiss you."

"Yeah?" Dick replied, turning and looking up at Wally beneath his eyelashes.

"Yeah." Wally breathed, before leaning down and capturing Dick's lips with his own. God, he had been waiting _so long_ to do that. He pressed forward, running his tongue insistently along the crease of Dick's mouth, putting his hand on Dick's neck. Dick responded, opening his mouth and running his hands through Wally's hair.

" _This is actually happening_ ," Wally thought deliriously, letting a tiny laugh slip out between their mouths, " _I'm really kissing him_."

When Wally noticed his claws were beginning to come out, he finally pulled back, chased by Dick trying to lean forward, back into his arms. "I have to go," Wally said quietly. Dick immediately backed away, the walls in his eyes already going back up before Wally corrected himself. "Mom's expecting me back soon. But, hey," he tilted Dick's chin towards him (careful, careful, don't let him see the claws) and pulled him in for another soft, slow kiss. "Remember I don't regret any of this, okay? Not a bit." He stole one more kiss at the corner of Dick's mouth before standing up and grabbing his bag.

"See you tomorrow?" Dick whispered into the quiet dimness, the smile obvious in his voice.

Wally grins back. "'Course."

* * *

 _February 28th - March 26th_

Wake up. Eat. Go to school. Sneakily eat in class. Go home. Do homework. Go to the cave. Kiss boyfriend. Go on mission. Kiss boyfriend. Go home. Suppress dread of future symptoms. Sleep. Repeat.

* * *

 _March 27th_

Wally's world fell apart at the next full moon.

He'd been feeling strange all day, like a current of electricity was thrumming just underneath his skin. He could barely wait until school let out that day, zipping to the nearest zeta tube and into the cave, eager for a distraction.

"Honey, I'm home!" he called out obnoxiously, waiting to see if Dick would respond. He grinned at the sound of Dick's cackle from the kitchen, racing there and skidding to a stop just in front of M'gaan pulling out a fresh batch of (only slightly burned this time) cookies and nearly running her over. "Sorry, Megs."

M'gaan beamed. "No problem, Wally. Just test these out and we'll be even."

Wally plucked one from the hot pan and chewed it, pondering. "Delicious. Peanut butter?" M'gaan nodded her assent. "Not as delicious as you though, babe," he said, leaning in and smirking.

Dick snorted and swatted Wally's ear from behind him, ignoring Wally's protests. "Don't you have something to do, KF?"

"I never have anything to do." Dick coughed and looked at him pointedly. "Oh, of course." Dick cackles as Wally crowds him against the counter, arms on either side of his waist as he leans in and presses their mouths together, swallowing Dick's giggles and trying not to smile into their embrace.

They pull away only because everyone started groaning (as if they were the only couple with PDA in the cave, _please_ ), but continuing to be wrapped up in each other like puzzle pieces, Wally ducking his head to nip at the skin of Dick's neck, just hard enough to be felt but not enough to leave a mark. Dick allowed him to do it for a few more minutes before pushing him off with a fond smirk and a remark of "You're not an animal, West." Wally only grinned in reply, leaning in for one more mark before pulling off for good, and resting his chin on Dick's head.

"How was school today, Wally?" Kaldur asked politely.

Wally shrugged. "Boring, as usual. I have felt a little weird, though. Kind of jittery."

"You're always jittery," Artemis said.

"Okay, but more than usual. I can't explain it. I thought I was done with the symptoms, but I think this might be another one." Dick leaned back and looked up at Wally, frowning.

"You didn't tell me that."

"I didn't think anything of it, really. Figured here was the best place to talk about it," Wally said, kissing the pout off of Dick. "No worries. It's probably just the fact I haven't gotten to run since our last real mission." Dick sighed, but let it pass as he snuggled back into the crook of Wally's neck.

Being a Friday night, everyone had time to stay for M'gaan's famous spaghetti. By the time dinner was over, dishes washed, and everyone was piled onto the couch ready to watch a movie, Wally felt even more restless.

He nudged Dick, who was tucked against his side and already dozing off. "Rob?" Dick hummed. "Can-um-do you know where Batman is?"

Dick opened his eyes blearily. "I think he's in the lab testing something." He paused. "Why, do you want him to test you again?"

"Yeah."

"You want me to come with you?"

"No, it's fine." But the rest of the team had been listening in, and insisted on going with Wally, and Dick wasn't going to be left behind, so they all traipsed down to the lab adjacent to the med-bay to find Batman.

"Batman?" Dick called out as they entered the lab.

"Yes?"

"Wally wants more testing."

Batman stood from his seat in front of the computer and walked to over to Wally. "More symptoms?"

Wally shifted on his feet. "Yes. I've just felt...jittery. And weird. All day. I can't explain it."

Batman nodded in response. "You know the drill." Wally sighed and went to lay down on the gurney, and allowed Batman to place the electrodes and sensors on him, monitoring his heart rate and brainwaves.

Everyone started to talk among themselves, waiting while Batman observed and prodded at Wally. Meanwhile, Wally felt even worse, like he was going to throw up.

"Guys," he mumbled, too quiet to be heard over the din of his teammates. His vision went blurry at the corners, everything seeming gray. He fingered the wires hooked to him before pulling them off abruptly.

"Kid Flash, what are you-" Batman was cut off by Wally standing up from the bed for about one second before collapsing onto all fours, hacking and coughing.

"Wally!" Dick ran to Wally's side, getting on his knees and laying his hands on Wally's shoulders. "Wally, talk to me." Wally looked up.

But he wasn't Wally anymore. Something else was there, in his place. Glowing green eyes, sharp fangs, and claws, staring out from Wally's face. He was a beast. A werewolf. And he was lunging for Dick's face without a second of hesitation.

M'gaan quickly threw him back with a wave of her hand, but the animal that had replaced Wally only charged again, this time at her. Connor retaliated, landing a swift punch to Wally's face, before Dick yelled for him not to hurt Wally. This attracted the beast's attention again, and it managed to make a deep gash on Dick's arm before Kaldur and Batman managed to restrain it, one of Artemis' tranquilizing arrows in it's thigh.

Dick sighed, standing up from where he had fallen, and approached Wally.

"Robin, don't," Batman warned.

"He's tranquilized, he won't hurt me," Robin murmured. He stretched out a hand, gently smoothing Wally's hair back. "Come back, please, Wally. Come back to me." He struggled, before another fit of coughing racked his body.

Wally blinked his eyes open, with an immense pain in his thigh and a pressing weight on both sides of him.

"What-what happened," he mumbled.

Dick and Batman exhchanged glances over his shoulder. "I don't know," Dick said.

"We're going to go the Watchtower and settle this. Everyone besides me, Robin, and Kid Flash, go home," Batman ordered. Kaldur slipped from Wally's side and was replaced with Dick, and together him and Batman semi-dragged him to the zeta tube and into the Watchtower.

* * *

Side-by-side in the Watchtower med-bay, sitting on a bed, Wally delicately tended to Dick's wounds, carefully cleaning away the dried blood on his arm and wrapping it with gauze. He barely trusted himself to do this, didn't know how anyone else trusted him to do it. He was a _monster_.

He winced when Dick inhaled sharply at the tight pulling of the bandages, murmuring an apology before continuing to wrap and secure. He finished the last tuck of bandages and sighed, resting his head on the crook of Dick's shoulder, gently placing a single kiss there.

"I'm sorry," Wally whispered, "I'm so sorry. I don't think I'll ever be sorry enough." He swallowed thickly, allowing one tear to escape before wiping it away hastily.

Dick tilted Wally's face up with his hand, gently running a finger over the bruise Conner left on his cheekbone. "Not your fault."

"Yes it is." Wally's voice broke. "I'm a _monster_."

Dick pulled him in for a fierce hug. "No, you're not. You're just a little sick, that's all. Nothing we can't fix."

Wally hiccupped into Dick's neck, trying to hold back his tears. "You don't know that, what if I'm stuck like this forever-I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you again-and what if it's worse next time-"

"Baby." Wally stopped, shuddering out a deep breath. "We're gonna figure it out, I promise." Wally nodded, allowing one harsh sob to escape before breathing in.

"You're right."

"Of course I am," Dick said, a small smile on his face. "And, um. We've only been together for a month, but we were best friends before that, so I'm gonna go ahead and say...I love you."

Wally let out a tiny giggle. "Good. I love you too."

He might be a werewolf, and Klarion might still be on the loose, but he had Dick by his side. And as long as he had Dick by his side, nothing could harm him.

* * *

i apologize for this cheesy ending (no i don't)

ummmm expect a sequel maybe

pls follow me on tumblr at grizzlybairparty


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